POLLEN 
662 
Bees with masses of pollen on their legs. 
cessive layers are added it is gradually 
pushed upward. If pollen from different 
species of flowers and of different colors, 
which occasionally happens, is collected, 
the mass will have a stratified appearance. 
The shape of the pollen mass is largely 
determined by the hairs which fringe the 
sides of the basket. The hairs on the front 
edge, which curve inward, prevent it from 
projecting far forward; while the hairs on 
the posterior edge, inclined outward, per¬ 
mit it to extend backward far outside of 
the tibia. Casteel found it possible to 
manipulate the legs of a recently killed bee 
with a pair of forceps, and artificially load 
the pollen-baskets with thin layers of pollen 
as has been described. It was formerly be¬ 
lieved that in loading the pollen-baskets the 
hind legs were crossed, and the plantar 
combs scraped over the edges of the baskets 
and the fringes of hair. On trial it is 
found that this method yields wholly dif¬ 
ferent results. 
Chemical analysis shows that the liquid 
with which the pollen is moistened is chiefly 
honey or nectar recently gathered. In pollen 
taken directly from the anthers of corn the 
sugar content was 11 per cent, while in 
pollen from the pollen-baskets the sugar 
content was 28 per cent, showing that a 
large amount of sugar had been added. 
Since the pollen from the corbiculas con¬ 
tains three times as much reducing sugar 
as sucrose it is indicated that the liquid 
added is honey (largely a reducing sugar) 
rather than nectar which contains more 
sucrose. 
Honeybees make their collecting trips 
more frequently in the morning than in the 
latter part of the day. Young bees return¬ 
ing with their first loads are said to show’ 
great excitement, while the older bees move 
about leisurely. After a suitable cell has 
been selected, which may take some time, 
the bee grasps, according to Casteel, one 
edge with its fore-legs, while the apical 
end of the abdomen rests'on the outer side 
of the cell. The hind legs hang free within 
the cell, the pollen masses about even with 
its margin. The pollen masses are then 
forcibly thrust out of the baskets by the 
plant* of the middle legs. The bee then 
usually departs, leaving to another worker 
the packing of the pollen in the cell. The 
pellets are broken up and pressed down¬ 
ward, and sugar, with perhaps some liq¬ 
uid, is added to preserve them. 
NECESSITY" OF POLLEN FOR BROOD-REARING. 
Both the solitary and the social bees re¬ 
quire pollen for brood-rearing, and would 
speedily perish if deprived of it. Alone 
among insects the existence of this group 
depends on an ample supply of pollen. 
While a colony of honeybees cannot pro¬ 
duce brood without pollen, the adult bees 
themselves do not appear to use it as food, 
since they will live only as long as the hive 
